I can't decided if I'm more embarrassed that the list was in such disrepair that it required such a massive overhaul, or more excited that the list is now so incredibly robust --better than ever before.

I'm probably most excited that the libertarian presence on the World Wide Web is now stronger than it has ever been. When I first made this list in 2009, I extensively researched what was out there, and I'm telling you, there are so many new blogs and websites, so many fantastic resources. We've come a long way in four years.

How did I find room for forty-four new libertarian blogs and websites?

I removed any blogs or websites that were no longer updating. There were a few of these. Sorry. I won't let this list get that dated again. I also removed several entries that allowed an organization to "double dip" on the list, by which I mean, I had previously linked to both The Cato Institute's main website and their blog, Cato at Liberty. I had done the same for The Independent Institute, The Mises Institute, (et al.). There are now just too many other good libertarian websites out there to allow the list to remain this "thin." Finally, several blogs and websites simply had to go to make room for better, more relevant ones, with higher quality libertarian content. There was also at least one blog that had to go because its proprietor has gone off the rails into nothing recognizably libertarian.

I also removed the numbers from the list to emphasize that it's not an ordered ranking, just a list. Don't read too much into the order.

An Awkward Top 100 List

This list isn't just more robust with more links to more resources of higher quality. It's a much more awkward list. Every previous incarnation of the list was filtered through my own biases against certain kinds of libertarians whom I didn't wish to promote.

It made for a weaker list.

The truth is, I don't think I was ever qualified to have such strong biases, not without listening to the people I would prefer to keep off the list and off my blog first. Now I'm listening.

What kind of libertarian am I? I don't know. What strategy is most effective to spread libertarianism? I don't know. Do I have to pick just one?

If the list is going to be more robust, it has to be more complicated. It has to be more awkward. There are all different kinds of libertarian blogs and websites on the list promoting all different kinds of libertarian ideas and strategies. Some of them don't like each other. A few readers might chafe to see an entry on the list that they consider too radical or on the fringe. Others might shake their head at entries that they consider too mainstream, strategically ineffective, or watered down.

I don't want to ignore or run away from these tensions in libertarianism. I want to embrace them.

The Forty-Four Newcomers to The List

(Someone should probably punch me in the face for not including some of these sooner.)